The Invention
by bionic4ever
Summary: Rudy's new invention may result in disaster for everyone!
1. Prologue

**The Invention**

(Special thanks to 1#bionicfan, for the idea for this story.)  


Prologue

"A _time machine?" _Jaime gasped. "Are you serious? Does it work?"

Rudy grinned. "Yes and maybe."

"How long have you been cooking this one up?" Steve asked, suitably impressed.

"From early planning stages to now, just under a year. My calculations indicate that it should work..."

"Can I try it out?" Jaime asked eagerly, looking ready to jump right into it.

Steve tightened his arm around her and exchanged a knowing look with Rudy. "I'm not so sure Oscar would like that idea, Sweetheart," he told her gently. "Maybe another time, after it's been fully tested."

Rudy nodded. "Steve's right, Honey. Let me make sure it works the way it's supposed to, and in the meantime, you can dream up all the time periods you'd like to visit and -"

"Oh, I already know," Jaime asserted. "We can start with the day I _don't _learn to sky dive!"

"Well, I do think you should consider that changing your past will change the past for others, as well. It may not have exactly the effect you want it to."

Steve's face brightened. "Rudy, what about going back to the day Jaime rejected her bionics and 'died' – temporarily? If I made her see you sooner and the problem was caught earlier, we could prevent her amnesia!"

"You don't know what other side effects an action like that might have," Rudy hedged.

"I can't see any harm coming out of preventing a cerebral hemorrhage, can you, Doc?"

Rudy decided (silently) to perform the tests on his new invention as slowly as possible, to give Steve and Jaime some extra time to think. Perhaps it would help...

- - - - - -


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Ann Sommers could only watch sadly and with a growing sense of dread as Rudy completed work on his latest invention. She knew she would not be allowed to alter the course of fate, but perhaps she could give it just a little nudge...

- - - - - -

Jaime was almost too excited to sleep. So much of her past had been painful and difficult, and she'd often wished for the chance to go back and change things; that chance seemed to finally be within her reach. The possibilities seemed endless and too tantalizing to ignore.

What if she had never gone sky diving, never had her accident – and never become bionic? She and Steve hadn't become engaged until well into her recovery, but they'd begun growing closer long before the fateful day she'd strapped on that parachute. Jaime had no doubt they'd be married by now, with at least one baby (maybe more) and blissfully happy together. She wouldn't be lying down to sleep all alone – that was for sure! She snuggled down under her blanket, closed her eyes, and could have almost sworn she saw her mother's face as she drifted off to sleep...

"Let's stay home today," Jaime suggested, rubbing Steve's shoulders as he polished off the last piece of her homemade apple pie.

"I thought you wanted to 'fly like the birds'?"

Jaime kissed the back of his neck then softly nibbled on his ear before seating herself in his lap. "I can think of something a lot more exciting to do," she whispered, looking straight into his deep, blue eyes.

"Is that a fact?" Steve asked with a grin. He pulled her closer and met her waiting lips with his own. As the kiss deepened, he swooped Jaime up in his arms and carried her down the hall. When the phone rang, no one was in the kitchen to answer it.

The scene shifted abruptly (dreams have a strange way of doing that) and Jaime found herself alone. She could almost feel the chill in the night air, but it was the bleakness of her surroundings that made her shiver and struck true fear into her heart. As she looked around, her mind whirled in confusion and she threw her head back in a long, silent, never-ending scream.

Jaime had found herself at the foot of a pair of graves: Steve's...and her own. She was frozen in place, frozen in time and (temporarily, at least) unaware she was dreaming.

"It doesn't have to be this way," a soft, comforting voice said from right beside her.

Jaime jumped, startled. _"Mother?"_

Ann took her daughter by the hand, leading her away from the graves. "This will be reality, but only if you choose to skip the sky diving lesson," she told her gently.

"What happened? How did we...die?" Jaime asked frantically. Ann fell silent. "Please tell me!"

"It is ugly – and frightening. Are you sure -?"

"Please!" Jaime pleaded. The scene around them swirled and shifted once again, and Jaime could see herself in a tiny, filthy room that she somehow knew was in a basement. She was blindfolded, gagged and tied to a chair. Two men (kidnappers?) paced nervously in front of her.

"You sure Austin's coming?" one of them growled.

"She's his one and only weakness; of course he'll be here. Then he can watch this little lady die...right before we blow him away."

Jaime-in-the-chair was – of course – not bionic, and could only struggle weakly, helpless to fight back or free herself. She sat bolt-upright at the sound of the upstairs door being kicked in.

"Here's our knight in shining armor now," one of her captors chortled gleefully. "Say goodbye, Sweetheart."

Ann shielded her daughter's eyes by pulling her into a hug. The separation between reality, dream and alternate reality blurred for one horrific instant as Jaime-in-the-bed, Jaime-in-her-mother's-arms and Jaime-in-the-chair all jumped at the sound of the first, deadly shot.

Suddenly, only one Jaime was left. She sat up in bed, sighing in relief at finding herself whole and alive, but still trembling violently. "Mother...?" she called in a quiet, plaintive voice. "...Mom...?"

- - - - - -


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Steve sat at his living room window until long after midnight, sipping brandy and (as he often did at random, spare moments) thinking of Jaime. He wished with his entire heart that things could have been different for them. Was it possible that Rudy's newfangled contraption could change history – their history – for the better? What if, when Jaime's body had begun rejecting her bionics, he had dragged her (kicking and screaming, if necessary) to see Rudy at the very first tremor of her hand? Her 'death' and subsequent amnesia could be prevented! Steve's mind reeled with joy as he climbed into his bed. He would talk to Rudy first thing in the morning...

-

Steve began to dream almost immediately. The first few scenes flickered by at rapid-fire speed. Rudy, a bit startled by Steve's insistence that Jaime be examined immediately, found the potentially life-threatening blood clot just beginning to form in her brain. He arranged surgery that very morning that removed it successfully and without incident. She recovered quickly and their wedding plans were happily resumed.

Ann hovered close by as Steve's dream progressed to its next stage...she knew she would be needed soon.

Steve rolled over and smiled in his sleep as his mind formed the first pictures of his and Jaime's wedding day. Dream-Steve had just finished putting on his pearl-gray tuxedo, and was happier than he'd ever been before as he strutted proudly in front of Oscar and Rudy.

"The limo's here, Pal," Oscar told him, nodding his approval. "Let's go and get you married." Three very dapper-looking and jubilant men headed out the door to the waiting limousine.

It happened too fast for anyone in the limo to have a chance to escape, or even to react. Steve felt an unseen hand on his shoulder as he heard the tell-tale whistle of a bomb and saw the effects as it struck the long, black car. It was too horrifying to watch and yet he was unable to look away. When the dust and gore had settled, no trace of the limo or its occupants remained, except for a large, debris-filled crater in the road, in front of the now-crumbling ranch house.

Steve blinked in disbelief, unsure what was really happening to him, and opened his eyes to see Jaime in her wedding dress, sitting in a tiny alcove of the church. She was breathtakingly beautiful as she gazed down at her bouquet and smiled radiantly in anticipation. Steve watched as Helen entered the alcove, sobbing, and he had to turn away. He had been able to stoically watch the bomb on its path of destruction and death, but couldn't bear to see Jaime in her grief.

He could still _hear _her, though, and her quiet cries shattered his heart to pieces more thoroughly than the bomb had shattered his dream-self. Steve turned, hoping to roll over and wake up from the worst nightmare he'd ever experienced, but instead found himself looking directly into a very familiar face from his distant past.

_"__**Ann**__?"_ Steve's confusion was disorienting him – to the point of hallucination? No, he could feel her hand on his arm. "What's happening?"

"This isn't happening, Steve," she told him gently, "unless you choose to make it so."

"I...don't understand..."

"This new invention – this 'time machine' – is not the gift it appears to be. Altering the past will only bring heartache. I urge you – and my daughter – to reconsider carefully, and then turn away."

"But -"

"Turn away from it, Steve..." Ann pleaded, her voice growing fainter as her image began to fade from view.

"No, Ann – Wait!" Steve called out in his sleep.

It was too late; Ann was gone and Steve was suddenly very much awake. Without needing to think about it first (even though it was 2am), he got dressed, got in his car and headed for Jaime's house. Just like his instincts had told him, lights were blazing in her bedroom and living room; Jaime was wide awake, too. Hearing his car pulling up the driveway, she opened the door as he stepped onto the porch, and instantly fell into his arms.

"I'm so glad you're here!" she told him as he led her back into the house. Steve couldn't help but notice that her face was tear-stained and she was trembling.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his own nightmare temporarily forgotten. Jaime sank down onto the sofa and leaned into the comfort of Steve's embrace. He held her close, prying no further until she looked up at him, calmer and finally ready to talk. "Talk to me, Sweetheart?" he said gently.

"I had the worst dream," she began, her eyes already brimming with new tears at the mere thought of it.

"About the time machine?"

"How'd you know?"

Steve smoothed Jaime's mussed-up hair and brushed away her tears. "I had one, too. We need to tell Rudy to get rid of that damn invention – first thing in the morning."

From her unseen vantage point, Ann Sommers smiled and nodded her approval.

- - - - - -


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Sleep was out of the question for both of them, so Jaime made coffee and she and Steve sat on the sofa, not speaking much, but enjoying the comfort of just being together. Neither one wanted to 'burden' the other with details of their respective nightmares, but they soon discovered the one common thread that wove their dreams together.

"The really strange thing," Steve shared, breaking a long silence, "was right when things got really ugly, there was someone there who sort of...smoothed it over, I guess you'd say."

Jaime looked up at him in wonder. "Really? Who was it?"

"Your mother."

"Steve...she was in my dream, too!" Jaime sat up much straighter, her eyes wide. "That's gotta mean something!"

"Yeah, that Rudy's invention is trouble. She was trying to protect you, Sweetheart."

"Protect _us, _if you saw her, too."

"Well, I got the message, loud and clear," Steve insisted. "And in a couple of hours, we'll tell Rudy we want nothing to do with that machine."

Jaime sipped her coffee silently for a few minutes, then nearly bounced off the sofa cushion as a new idea hit her. "Steve – I just thought of something! What if I used Rudy's machine to go back to the day my parents died? I could stop them – I don't know how, but there'd have to be a way!"

"Jaime -" Steve had a rapidly-growing knot of fear in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like the sound of this...

"It could work! It _will _work, Steve! My parents don't _have _to die!"

- - - - - -

Steve kept a very close eye on Jaime for the rest of the night, and although her eyes glowed with excitement now, instead of fear and sadness, she said no more about the time machine. Before the sun was completely up over the horizon, they were in Steve's car and headed for OSI Headquarters to see Rudy, who often arrived even before Oscar did, to begin his day.

Surprisingly, Rudy's lab door was still closed and locked. "Let's check in with Oscar," Steve suggested, leading Jaime onto the express elevator.

"Looks like everybody slept in today," Jaime remarked, finding Oscar's inner office still dark, too. "Except us."

Steve nodded as he grabbed a piece of paper from Callahan's desk and fished around for a pen to leave a note. She was always so organized; he finally found one in the top drawer, neatly placed in its little groove, right where it belonged. He brought it to the paper and had just started to write 'Oscar – we stopped by to see you and Rudy. We'll -" Steve stopped abruptly at the sound of the elevator. "Morning, Sleepyhead," he began, believing it to be either Oscar or Callahan.

Steve was wrong. He was now standing alone. The elevator was going down, stopping at the basement level – Rudy's lab! - and Jaime was gone. He didn't wait for the elevator, but turned to the stairs, taking them an entire floor at a time. He moved bionically fast, but Jaime was on a personal mission and had a head start. By the time Steve reached the lab, Rudy was staring in bewilderment at the jimmied lock and the open door.

"Jaime did this," Steve said quickly. "Rudy, she's in the time machine!"

Rudy threw on the light switch and both men ran to the machine. "It's not ready yet!" Rudy protested. "We need more tests – she wouldn't...she couldn't!"

Steve saw the display on the computer monitor, and his heart sank. _April 16, 1966. _"Oh, yes, she could, Rudy. And she did."

- - - - - -

Jaime felt a rough, teeth-on-edge jarring sensation and found herself sitting up in bed – the bed she'd had when she was 16 years old! She felt strangely disoriented; she hadn't been sure what to expect, but had thought it would be similar to her dream, where she viewed events from the outside, but that she'd now be able to influence them directly instead of merely watching. Instead, she seemed to have ended up back in a 16-year-old's body, with absolutely no idea of what to do next.

Ann Sommers, from her other-worldly viewing point, was frantic. This was not supposed to happen – not by any stretch of Fate or the imagination! Would Jaime and Steve's doctor friend (with Steve's help) find a way to reverse this and stop Jaime's well-intended mistake, before it was too late...for all of them?

- - - - - -


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Rudy immediately began inputting data and pressing buttons with Steve hanging anxiously over his shoulder. "She just left – within the last minute or two," Steve told him, "so you can reverse it and get her back here, right?" Rudy didn't answer, but kept on typing and pressing buttons on the machine. "Rudy...?"

Rudy stepped away from the keyboard looking crestfallen, bereft and furious, all at the same time. "We've got a big problem," he said quietly. "I told the two of you yesterday that I needed to run a lot more tests, and most of those tests had to do with the means of returning a subject to the present day and time. There may be a glitch -"

"What kind of glitch? Are you saying we can't bring Jaime back?"

"It might be possible," the doctor answered, already deep into scientist/inventor mode, "provided she hasn't moved from wherever it is she landed."

"Where would that be?"

"Since Jaime went back to a time when she was living," Rudy explained, "she most likely ended up exactly where she was at this time on -" he glanced at the display again - "April 16, 1966."

Steve thought fast. "She'd be in her parents' house, probably just waking up for school. Rudy, does she know what she's done? I mean, is she aware she's gone backwards in time, or does she think she's really 16 again?"

"She would have all the knowledge and awareness she left here with. If she'd chosen a time period before she was actually born, she'd be a stranger, just wandering around, but Jaime was alive in 1966, so she's re-inhabiting the body she had at that time."

"In other words, she's not bionic."

"That's right," Rudy confirmed. "She has the knowledge, the memory, in her mind, but the abilities and the actual bionic parts...are gone."

"Gone? And when we do bring her back...?" Steve's mind was a mass of confusion. He barely grasped what Rudy was saying, and it had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.

"I...don't...know..." Rudy admitted slowly. "Her body should have the same form it had when she left, but I'm just not sure. The machine wasn't ready yet, Steve." Rudy ran his hands through his hair in sheer frustration and returned quickly to the keyboard. "Let's hope she's too stunned to move," he prayed out loud, resuming his frantic data input at double-speed. "Stay where you are, Honey...please."

- - - - - -

April 16, 1966

The alarm clock beside Jaime's bed began to buzz in a loud, annoying fashion, and without having to think about it, Jaime reached over and shut it off. Of course, she was already wide awake. It took several more minutes to fully orient herself. _My bedroom...my alarm clock...and Puzzles! _Jaime leaned over toward the foot of the bed to give her dog a happy, loving pat and was rewarded by a typically wet, sloppy dog-kiss.

She could hear her parents already up and about in the living room or kitchen, and sat very still, attempting to tune into their conversation. _Damn! I guess my ear is 'normal' – for now. _Resigned to having to eavesdrop in a more human fashion, she grabbed her fuzzy bathrobe from the chair where she'd always left it, wrapped it around herself and got out of bed. Walking down the hall was an almost overwhelmingly strange experience; after having to totally re-learn how to walk on bionic legs, she was once again using flesh-and-blood limbs. Actually feeling the floor beneath her feet was odd and unfamiliar, and Jaime found herself having to concentrate hard on placing one foot in front of the other, for the first few steps. She padded as softly as possible, hoping to be able to listen without being seen until she'd fully gained her bearings.

Her father was completely dressed and already setting his empty coffee cup on the counter – at least half an hour ahead of schedule – but Jaime knew this was no ordinary day. James Sommers would not be going to work; he had other, more important plans.

"Chris will be waiting at the summit location," he was telling his wife, "and as soon as I pull behind the building and drop you off, she'll get in the car. Just a husband and wife out for a leisurely drive, as far as anyone will be able to tell. You'll be able to have your meeting in complete privacy."

Ann Sommers came into view, also fully dressed, and began rifling through her purse, looking for something. "Just in case something goes wrong," she said softly, "I think you should have this." Jaime's eyes grew wide as she saw her mother hand her father _**a gun**_ She took a deep breath and waited until the gun was out of sight in her father's jacket before bouncing into the kitchen with full 16-year-old enthusiasm.

"Morning!" she said brightly. Her heart leaped with joy as she was once again able to hug her (living) parents. "It's so nice outside; let's all do something together today, huh?"

Ann and James exchanged a _look, _and Jaime instantly clammed up, waiting for their response. Had she blown it already by saying too much, too soon?

- - - - - -

Rudy shook his head and once again stepped away from the machine. "You'd better notify Oscar," he told Steve in a grim voice. "Jaime's gone." He didn't dare voice his other fear – not yet. _If she succeeds in altering the past, who knows where the rest of us will end up?_

- - - - - -


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Steve shook his head in despair. "We can't let Oscar know. What are we supposed to tell him? That his multi-million-dollar, Level Six operative has disappeared...into 1966? He'll have our heads on a platter faster than you can say -"

"And where _is _Jaime?" the last voice in the world that they wanted to hear at that moment probed from the doorway.

"Oscar..." Steve hedged.

"Let me get this straight," he thundered as he walked toward the stunned duo. "Jaime is lost somewhere in that...contraption, and when she comes back out, she may or may not be bionic?"

Rudy hung his head. "If she comes out," he admitted, very quietly.

"**IF?**"

Steve stepped forward before things could escalate further. "I'm gonna go after her." He moved toward the machine.

Rudy grabbed his arm. "It's too risky," he insisted. "I don't want to lose both of you."

"But you said you could bring her out if she stayed exactly where she landed," Steve reminded him. "So you could do the same for me, right?"

"I...think so. There's no guarantee -"

"It's the only chance we've got! And...I belong there; I lived it, too, and I know my way around. What if I went back, grabbed Jaime and took her back to wherever I find myself when I get there? If I'm hanging onto her, would she come back with me?"

"I suppose it's possible. It could work."

"It _has _to work, Rudy! Besides, if she manages to keep her parents from being killed, who knows where that leaves the rest of us? Or Jaime, for that matter?"

Oscar looked back and forth, from one friend to the other, appearing ready to throttle both of them. "Can someone explain -"

"Later," Steve told him, hoping the explosion of anger would wait.

It couldn't, and didn't. "Dammit, you're talking pure science fiction here – this agency deals with reality!" Oscar shouted. "Science, yes. Fiction – NO!"

"I have to try," Steve said softly.

Rudy reluctantly nodded his agreement, knowing there was no other viable alternative. "Ok, Steve, here's the plan. You have one hour, from the time you leave here, to find Jaime and get back to wherever it is you start from. If you can't get her there, you'll have to go back alone, because one hour on the dot will be when I try to pull you back out."

Oscar was turning his third or fourth shade of angry crimson. "Try? You'll TRY?"

"I understand," Steve confirmed. "Let's do it." Before Oscar could stop him or Rudy could have second thoughts, Steve seated himself on the tiny stool inside the machine and closed his eyes as Rudy began to type...

- - - - - -

April 16, 1966

James and Ann stared at their daughter, thoroughly surprised, then James smiled broadly. "This is quite the change from last night."

Jaime's mind raced, but she couldn't remember what he might be talking about and so she played it safe and didn't answer him.

Ann unwittingly filled in the blank. "Quite a nice change, from swearing to never speak to us again to wanting to spend the day together. And a lovely thought, Dear, but we both have classes to teach," she finished, fibbing to their daughter about their plans for the day.

_We had a fight, _Jaime remembered silently. After her parents' deaths, the ugly blow-out of the night before had been too painful to bear and she'd blocked it from her mind. "Yeah," she said lightly, "but I really am sorry for being such a brat, and I wanna make it up to you."

"Jaime, we both have to work," James said sadly, "you know that."

"No you don't. Just...don't go. Skip the meeting." _Oops! Dammit!_

"No meetings today, just classes," James told her, staring at Jaime with a wondering frown.

Jaime flinched inside. _Open mouth, insert both feet. If I had my bionics, I could physically make you stay, but what am I supposed to do now...?_

Knock, knock, _knock, __**KNOCK! **_The whole Sommers family looked up to see young Steve Austin's face peering inside through the back door's window.

Jaime, trying to play her 16-year-old self as closely as possible, sprang happily toward the door. "I'll get it!" She pulled the door open with what looked to her parents (from their rear view of her) to be bouncing eagerness while her eyes shot daggers at Steve. "What are you doing here?" she asked, trying to keep hostility from her voice. He was about to ruin everything! "I thought you'd be back at college!"

"Nah – our Spring Break is a few days longer than yours; thought you might like a ride to school." He nodded respectfully toward Jaime's parents. "If that's ok with you, of course."

"Well, isn't that nice!" Ann exulted. She handed Jaime a glass of juice, which she downed obediently, then put her book bag in her hands and practically shoved her out the door.

Steve took her arm with a gentle-looking but very firm grip. As soon as Ann had closed the door behind them, he pulled Jaime toward his car. "We have to go back," he informed her. "Right now."

"Later," Jaime insisted, straining back toward the house. Her strength in 1966 was no match for his, though, and she scowled darkly as Steve deposited her in the passenger's seat. "Steve, please, just help me save them, and I'll -"

"And you'll what?" he asked, already throwing the car into gear. "If you did prevent the accident, Sweetheart, where would that leave you?" He floored the accelerator just hard enough to hurry without getting stopped for speeding. "For all we know, you might end up teaching sixth grade in Dubuque, Iowa...or God only knows what else."

"But -" Jaime's eyes filled with tears. She'd come so close...

"I'm sorry, but Ann was right."

"Huh?"

"Last night, when she told me we had to turn away from Rudy's machine and not mess with the past. We don't know how that might change things – for any of us." He pulled the car to a screeching halt, and with only seconds to spare, pulled Jaime toward the Elgin's front porch. "Do you trust me?" he asked Jaime in a gentle voice.

"I love you."

"Then stay right here, and don't let go of my hand."

- - - - - -


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Rudy scarcely dared to breathe as he typed the codes that would hopefully bring Steve and Jaime back to the present day while Oscar paced nearby. It had been a very tense, troubled hour of waiting, with both men striving mightily to keep lids on their emotions and the tension that threatened to put them at each other's throats.

Steve knew he could not alter history in any way, and had gone simply to find Jaime and bring her back, but...what might Jaime already have done? Would Oscar or Rudy simply disappear at the blink of an eye, or would they turn around and find themselves in some strange, alternate reality?

"I hope an hour was enough time," Rudy fretted, about halfway through the sixty minutes. Steve's only memories of the day Ann and James had died were of rushing to Jaime's side after she'd received the horrifying news. He wasn't sure where he'd been that morning, but thought he'd either been home or somewhere in Ojai. He had been back in his dorm room when Helen called that night to tell him about the accident, but he was fairly certain he hadn't returned to school until later, sometime in the afternoon. "Maybe I should've given him a few more hours..." Rudy speculated, hoping for the best but bracing for the very worst.

"Well, no matter where they are," Oscar said slowly, "if anyone can find Jaime in under sixty minutes, it would be Steve." He sat quietly in a chair for a few minutes, then began to pace. "Rudy, we both know how...stubborn Jaime can be. What if she won't go with him? What if -"

"She _has _to," Rudy stated flatly. The alternative was just unthinkable. Now, as he finished inputting his untested data and codes, Rudy said a silent prayer for Jaime and Steve – and for the rest of them, as well.

Several minutes passed, and the machine remained empty and quiet. Rudy's heart sank, and Oscar stopped pacing and leaned against the wall in an attitude of dejection and loss. Rudy turned away from his invention to join his friend when the stool skittered out from inside the machine with a loud crash. Steve and Jaime stood crowded together in the tiny alcove, hand-in-hand and appearing bewildered but – by all appearances – healthy and whole.

"Looks like we made it," Steve said with a laconic grin. He pulled Jaime into a bear-hug of relief as they emerged from the machine, and the two waiting men were quick to turn it into a four-way embrace.

"You two need to sit down – or maybe lie down, so I can have a look at you," Rudy told them as he stepped back to get a better view.

"We're ok, as far as I know," Steve said quietly; then he noticed that Jaime still hadn't spoken a word and appeared to be shaking. "At least, I am." He scooped her up in his arms and laid her down on a gurney that sat along one wall of the lab.

Rudy immediately shifted from scientist to doctor mode and began checking Jaime's vital signs while Steve kept his grip on her hand and Oscar hovered close by. He'd been prepared to give Jaime the chewing-out of a lifetime for pulling a stunt like this, but seeing her pale face and wide, unblinking eyes, even Oscar didn't have the heart.

"She's shocky," Rudy told Steve. He bent closer to Jaime, to ask "Are you in pain, Honey?"

Jaime shook her head 'no' and a single tear soundlessly rolled down her cheek. "I hugged them, Rudy," she finally said. "It felt so good."

Steve nodded his understanding and gave her hand a squeeze. "I know how hard it was to leave them," he acknowledged. Jaime's teeth began to chatter lightly, and she blinked back more tears as she and Steve both reflected on the fact that at that exact moment, back in the time they'd just left, Ann and James were on their way to their final destiny.

Rudy took a syringe from the lockbox on the wall and quickly gave Jaime a shot. "Just something to help you relax and get some rest," he told her. Once Jaime's eyes had fluttered closed, Rudy began checking Steve's condition. "Your vitals seem fine, but I'm sending both of you to National – just overnight, for observation – and rest. And yes, I'll make sure you're in a double room together; once Jaime wakes up, I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about."

"And I'm sending your invention to the Level Eight vault," Oscar added. "It obviously works, but time travel is something that shouldn't be undertaken under any foreseeable circumstance."

From her far-off vantage point, Ann smiled and nodded her approval.

- - - - - -


	8. Epilogue

Epilogue

"She'll sleep for a couple more hours," Rudy told Steve once they'd gotten Jaime settled into her hospital bed and Steve was (temporarily, at least) in his own. "She's already much stronger. And you don't seem any worse for wear, yourself."

"Rudy, it was _fascinating!" _Steve exulted. "Seeing James and Ann again, and Jaime as a teenager...you are a genius!"

"Oscar was right, though," Rudy conceded, "the risks are just too great. If you hadn't done what you did, we probably would've lost Jaime today, and who knows what else might've happened as a result."

"Is she gonna be ok?"

Rudy nodded. "Physically, she's already back to normal, albeit extremely exhausted. Emotionally, though...well, you'll probably be the best judge of that, once she wakes up. I can arrange for her to talk to the staff psychiatrist, if she seems to need it -"

"You know Jaime won't go for that."

"We can keep in mind, though, just in case." Rudy patted his friend's shoulder. "I'll be here, in my office, so call me if either of you need anything. Otherwise, I'll check back in a few hours."

"Thanks, Rudy." Once the doctor was gone, Steve couldn't resist pulling a chair over to Jaime's bedside, where he sat quietly, watching her sleep.

The first thing Jaime saw when she opened her eyes was Steve's face, beaming at her. "Hi there, Gorgeous," he said, kissing her forehead. "How ya feeling?"

"I'm...ok," she answered, with more than a little hesitance.

"Talk to me?"

"Steve, did you know I had a fight with my parents, the night before they died?"

"You never told me that."

"I guess I didn't wanna remember it."

"I'm sure it made things that much harder for you."

"Yeah..." Jaime's voice trailed off, then her eyes suddenly brightened. "Today, I got to end things – I don't know...happier, I guess. I gave them both a hug and apologized. I guess it didn't change anything, though."

"Oh yes, it did," Steve told her.

"They're still...dead. But at least they didn't leave me while I wasn't speaking to them. They know how much I loved them."

"They always did know that, Sweetheart."

"Still, even though I know it was wrong to try and stop what happened to them, I'm glad I went back. We got the chance to make things right."

Steve brushed a hand tenderly across her cheek. "I'm so happy for you."

"I'm...sorry you had to come after me, though. I know how risky that was."

Steve chuckled. "I almost didn't make it."

"Huh?"

"Rudy gave me one hour to find you and bring you back to where I'd started from."

"But you only lived a few miles from my house," Jaime puzzled.

"Yeah, well, my car wouldn't start."

"You're kidding!"

Steve laughed a little harder. "Totally serious. Nothing I tried worked, either. A few more minutes, and I was gonna take off on foot to get you. I'd have carried you back in my arms – kicking and screaming - if I had to."

Jaime finally laughed, too. "The car was a lot better. But how'd you finally get it going?"

"Don't know; it just suddenly started."

Ann Sommers knew her help was no longer needed; her daughter was in the best possible hands. As she faded away from her vigilant look-out duty, she mentally added _mechanic'_ to her postmortem resume.

END


End file.
